


Call me Harley (And we'll make a scene)

by orphan_account



Category: TXT (Korea Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Bikers, Alternate Universe - College/University, Crush, Kissing, M/M, beomgyu is just a cutie, biker gang member!yeonjun, but taejun, good student!taehyun, huening being a lil shit that he is, i can't just make them NOT kissing, i mean it's taejun, in biker jackets, literally pls search for 20191125 taejun airport fashion before you read this, literally this is just me bluffing, more like a peck actually, mutual crush, soobin and his pink scooter, sue me if i can't get this fic posted
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-25
Updated: 2020-04-01
Packaged: 2021-02-18 12:02:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 13,549
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21560836
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Taehyun often wondered the correlation between his crush's sexy lips and cancer cure. Never had ever he thought his best friend would use that against him, especially when he was given a stupid dare to transform from a good, obedient college junior to a biker gang member for a night.Taehyun knew for sure he was going to regret this dare. All of it.
Relationships: Choi Yeonjun/Kang Taehyun
Comments: 85
Kudos: 320





	1. shitty deal from shitty best friend

**Author's Note:**

> this is for those people who shouted 'DO IT' to my taejun tweet: "all this biker gang taejun pics provoke my inner writer satan to do something about it."
> 
> so yea, i did something.
> 
> i did this. enjoy?

“I’m gonna kill you, Hyuka,” Taehyun muttered under his breath while he made his way further into the underground garage. “Then bury you together with all your damn plushies.”

Now Taehyun wasn’t an aggressive person, especially not to his dearest best friend considering he always had a soft spot for Hueningkai. Yet that so called friend made it particularly hard for Taehyun to hold on to their friendship when here he was, [geared](https://www.pinterest.com/pin/729723945857696184/) in all black leather and ripped jeans, forced to attend a random bikers gathering at a dim, mysterious place full of people looking like they could get away with murder.

Taehyun gulped, big eyes wildly scanning around the smelly garage crowded with all superbikes possible and their scary-looking riders. He contemplated the idea of leaving this hellhole without completing what he promised Huening to do. But then the image of his friend’s devious grin came to his mind and Taehyun groaned to himself.

“The deal is easy, Hyunnie. All you gotta do is dress up like a biker gang member, trash their gathering and take a selfie with one of the superbikes there. Easy peasy, right?”

_“Easy, my ass,”_ he thought. He had never been to this type of occasion (Can showing off your motorbike while drinking cheap beers be considered an occasion?), never even dreamed to get himself involved with this kind of people or place, yet thinking back to the deal he had trapped himself with, Taehyun bit his lips and steeled himself to go on with it.

_“Just a selfie, Kang Taehyun. Hop on a random bike and snap the damn photo. You’re not gonna get killed from it,”_ he tried to rationalize with the doubts in him.

Yeah. He gotta do this. He gotta complete the dare and bring back the photo to Huening as proof or else—

“Or I’ll tell your crush how you’ve considered sending in a thesis proposal about the correlation of his sexy lips and curing cancer to our prof.” There it was again, Lucifer’s voice aka Huening fucking Kai tormenting Taehyun in his thought.

Desperate to get this over with, Taehyun briefly scanned near him until he spotted a lone metallic black bike parked right in a secluded corner. Thinking that area won’t draw much attention to what he was about to do, Taehyun walked up to the bike until he was standing beside it and he checked over his shoulders once more, making sure the real owner of this ride wasn’t anywhere near the parameter.

“Okay,” he breathed, pulling out his phone from his back pocket and climbing onto the seat, feeling the smooth leather dip under his weight once he fully lowered himself onto it. Taehyun can’t help but chuckle, despite nervously, because it did feel fucking cool up here. The superbike was high, the wide dashboard made him feel like he could fly through the wind if Taehyun was to ride it and the shiny front lamps, god—Taehyun almost got it in that moment why some humans simply obsessed with owning a superbike.

It made him feel almighty, rowdy and fearless, and for a moment, Taehyun forgot he was just a broke college junior being fooled by his best friend into doing this dare. Smiling some more to himself, Taehyun finally brought up his camera in front of his face and that was the second he saw someone through the back lens.

He saw [_him_](https://www.pinterest.com/pin/729723945857696161/).

Blue hair, hooded eyes, sinister smile.

A super fucking tall man was already making his way over to this bike, to _him_. Trying his hardest not to swallow his panic audibly, Taehyun lowered his shaky hand and gripped harder on his phone, in fear of getting it slipped off his hold from his gradually sweaty palm. He deduced his choices either to jump off the bike and sprint away or stay and pretend he owned this motherfucking superbike. Taehyun usually was way, way smarter than this. Yet the closer that tall man got to him, the quicker he decided to stay and stare.

Yeah, stare.

His eyes can’t help but travel from that sinful face, down to a pair of broad shoulders and firm chest, lower to narrow waist underneath that simple white shirt tugged into a leather belt and oh, those legs. Taehyun liked men with legs, especially _long_ legs—and the man approaching him right now fitted his taste just fine with his slim legs wrapped in a pair of light blue jeans. Just like the rest of the people here, he also had a black jacket on over his shirt, hands wrapped in a pair of gloves that looked temptingly dangerous.

In simple words, the man was gorgeous.

He had no idea how long he had been staring, yet the next second he blinked his eyes, the man already stood right before him, towering over Taehyun despite him already seated on the bike. Taehyun totally gulped this time, big eyes peering up to where a foxy smile was curved down to him.

“You like what you see?” Deep voice asking him and Taehyun inwardly cursing.

He didn’t want to take it wrong, but he really, _absolutely_ liked what he currently was _seeing_.

“Wh—what?”

The man smirked and motioned his chin down to the bike, “I meant the bike.”

Taehyun swore his whole face felt as red as beef.

“Ah, yeah,” he tried not to stutter. “Yeah, I do. It’s very…”

He failed. He totally was stuttering. He can’t even think of a word to describe the bike even as his eyes dropped hastily down to it. “…very charming.”

“Just charming?” The man folded his arms across his chest and Taehyun tried not to focus his eyes on the way it bulged his biceps.

“And sexy…” He added without thinking.

“Sexy?”

The smile he had on beginning to bloom into a smirk and Taehyun finally realized—

“No, no!” He burst out, flailing his hands around to desperately deny it. “I mean, god, motorbike can’t be sexy, I mean, it’s—”

“Relax, I got it,” the man broke into lighthearted chuckle and Taehyun shut his mouth. One, because he was embarrassed and two, because he sounded mesmerizing—the man’s laugh. He then nodded once at Taehyun, “Meet Harley.”

“Excuse me?”

“This bike, she’s Harley.” The man reached out and tapped a hand upon the front lamp. Taehyun can only respond with a dumb nod, legit just thought he was introducing himself as Harley.

“Oh yeah, sure,” he waved and laughed awkwardly. “I’m Tae—Taehyun, yeah.”

He didn’t know why he introduced his name in return of the man introducing the bike to him yet Taehyun found there were times he can be idiot and this, was one of them.

The man chuckled, Taehyun noticed the corners of his eyes curved into adorable wrinkles. _Oh god._

“Okay, Taehyun. You’re so cute, I don’t think I have seen you around here before.”

Taehyun laughed as well because he didn’t want to freak out over the fact that a handsome guy just called him cute. He nodded instead, “That’s because this is literally my first time being here.”

“That’s why,” the other hummed, thinking. “Makes me wonder what the college good boy is doing here of all places.”

That caused Taehyun to stiffen and his eyes open wide once he met the man’s sight straight on.

Oh my god, this couldn’t be—

“You—you know…me?”

The man’s shy but sweet grin obviously didn’t seem like he was surprised about any of this.

“Been wanting to ask you out for a drink since they introduced the freshies early semester before but…,” he trailed off, scratching his nape. “I don’t wanna scare you.”

“I’m not scared,” Taehyun said too soon, too fast.

He raised his eyebrow and Taehyun felt bold, felt brave.

“Really, I’m not.” He was just desperate at this point because this guy really noticed me—

“Ask me,” he urged and the other slowly smiled, rewarding Taehyun with his half-teasing smirk again.

“Alright, sweetcheek.” He surrendered, and after a quick inhale, the man started "How about I buy you a—”

“Yes,” Taehyun didn’t even wait for the rest of the words to be out of his mouth. He stared straight at him. “You can buy me a drink.”

The man seemed like he wanted to laugh but withstand it as he nodded.

“Okay,” he pointed down to the bike. “But I think you gotta scoot backward a bit so I can ride my own bike.”

Taehyun followed his pointed finger and finally looked down to where he was still sitting. “Oh...”

His eyes widened, realization came to him slow and embarrassing. “Oh!”

He hastily swung his leg over, climbing off the bike as he apologized profusely to the man.

“Oh my god, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean—”

“Hey, relax, sweetheart.” Yet the man shut him, steadying Taehyun with his hands around his waist when Taehyun narrowly about to lose his footing in his haste to jump down and turn around. His body stiffened and he realized their bodies were too close to each other’s. Taehyun gazed up just in time the man was lowering his face to him so he can whisper with his rough, husky voice.

Everything about him got Taehyun weak in the knees and he didn’t know how to stop this.

He can only stare back dumbly.

“Whatever the reason was, I'm glad you chose my bike.” He smiled and Taehyun was way, way, too fucking sold.

“Me too, I'm glad I choose you.”

A moment of silence.

“No! No, I mean—I'm glad I'm attracted to your _superbike_ , your Harley so yes, let's go. Now. Drink.”

The man finally broke into laughter and it took every bit of Taehyun’s sanity not to grab him by his collar and maybe kiss the laughter out of his chest. Fuck first impression and all.

“For sure,” was all he answered and by the time Taehyun was sent back to his dorm, he was way too pumped to send Hueningkai the result of his stupid dare. Giddily searching for the selfie he just took with the man who sent him home just now, Taehyun didn't hesitate to share it straight to his friend.

**Me:**

[Image]

I am so gonna propose the thesis to prof

His lips do have the correlation to curing cancer

;P

**Huening the bitch:**

Holy fuck

FUCK

WHAT THE FUCK

TAEHYUN YOU HOE

HOW

???

**Me:**

Not sharing

Btw

Thanks for giving me the dare

You can still go & tell my crush I think about his sexy lips a lot

**Huening the bitch:**

Lucky bitch

**Me:**

I am

:D

Tossing his phone, Taehyun finally peeled his body off the door and walked over to throw himself down to the bed. Eyes up to the ceiling, all he could think about was a few minutes earlier when the Harley had stopped right in front of his dorm and Taehyun jumped down, taking off the helmet to hand it back to its owner.

“Thank you for tonight…”

“Yeonjun, that’s me.”

Taehyun grinned, showing off his dimple. “I know.”

“You know?” Yeonjun responded with a raised eyebrow.

“Yeah. I mean, who wouldn’t? You’re _that_ infamous senior in our campus.”

Yeonjun chuckled but didn’t deny it. Taehyun watched as he was about to put his helmet back on and—

“Will I see you again after this?”

Yeonjun’s hand halted halfway in ruffling his messy, blue hair as his dark, inviting eyes fitted on Taehyun. He smirked. “I finally got to talk to you after months, baby boy. I’m not gonna make this the last time.”

Taehyun really, really tried not to blush.

“Okay.”

“Okay.”

“Good night.”

“Night, beautiful.”

Taehyun giggled and took a step back.

And he turned right around again.

“Can I get a kiss?”

He should probably just shut his mouth and walk away because Yeonjun was staring at him in silent way too ferociously but then—

“You’re standing too far, how can I kiss you?”

And Taehyun took a huge step forward, stopping himself right in front of Yeonjun just when he leaned his head forward and turned his cheek just so Taehyun can drop a peck there. Still giggling, Taehyun really was about to land his lips there but right when his lips were just an inch away—

Yeonjun tilted his head sideway and their lips met.

Just a peck.

It was just a peck.

But it was Taehyun’s first kiss.

With Yeonjun.

With Choi Yeonjun.

His campus crush.

His motherfucking crush.

Taehyun grabbed for his pillow and screamed into it.

He didn’t regret the dare. At all. 


	2. the boy they warned you about

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i've decided to make this story into chaptered oneshot, meaning each update will be short, less than my usual 10k per chap update (hopefully i dont play myself) 
> 
> anyways, the chapter will alternate between taehyun and yeonjun's pov.
> 
> enjoy, vamps! <3

Choi Yeonjun came with warning label.

_“Have you seen that senior? The fourth year with his big ass bike? It’d be better if you keep your distance from him.”_

_“He’s a fuckboy.”_

_“He’s due to graduate. Some said he managed to stay in college just ‘cuz his family is rich. His father loaned money to the admin or something.”_

_“Please, Choi Yeonjun? He probably has slept with half of the girls and boys around here.”_

_“You think he’s cool? Huh, save yourself the trouble. You don’t wanna break your own heart.”_

_“He looks like he smuggles drug and commits crimes. You better stay away.”_

_“Who even attends college looking like **that**?”_

_“If you wanna graduate peacefully, rule #1, Choi Yeonjun shouldn’t be your friend.”_

…And the list went on and on.

He’s used to it all, however. It was nothing out of norm to be hearing those jabs and snide remarks thrown to his way from particularly the same crowd who would shudder upon just a look at him or the very similar people who would pay just to buy a private moment with him. _To discover secrets_ , they said—only Yeonjun had no exciting secrets whatsoever.

He was just the way he was.

The only reason his degree graduation had been delayed was due to the Music and Physics double major he’d taken. It wasn’t the Physics which had been holding him back, it was the Music. Anyone who said Music seemed like the easiest course to major can go fuck themselves because Yeonjun begged to differ. He was still facing some struggles trying to complete his research and thesis and that was that.

Absolutely not because his father was kissing the chancellor’s ass. No.

And his bike?

He got Harley (as proudly named by him, and his baby was _literally_ a Harley Davidson) from an old repair garage Yeonjun had done a part time at during his first year in college. His baby was just a piece of rusting metal back then, close to being scrapped but the shop owner was considerate enough not to waste its usage and gifted it to Yeonjun as a very small, almost worthless present.

But Yeonjun remembered he was overjoyed.

He worked day and night, spent almost every waking moment (whenever he wasn’t finishing his assignments or attending classes) in molding, reconstructing and polishing the metal until it transformed into the ever eye-catching Harley she was today.

So no.

None of it came from anyone’s riches.

It was all only from Yeonjun’s blood, sweat and tears. (not really tears, actually, just a lot of sweat and smelly armpits but Yeonjun swore, he wasn’t _that_ dramatic)

That was why when the first rotten rumor reached his ears, Yeonjun was close to throwing fists only to decide later none of that would worth it.

People can think or say what they want but by the end of the day, Yeonjun knew himself better.

And to him that was enough.

It became so mundane since then until Yeonjun had stopped trying to befriend anyone new, especially the juniors which he knew were surely the fresh targets for gossipers to spread ‘juicy’ tales regarding him. He especially avoided himself coming to campus on the day the opening ceremony would take place to welcome all the freshmen into their college so none of the poor young souls would be ‘frightened’ by him yet this year, his routine took a different turn.

“The fuck ya want?” Yeonjun groaned, refusing to open his eyes once his peaceful sleep had been cruelly disturbed by his ringing phone.

“Jjunnie, help me!” Soobin cried on the other side of the line and Yeonjun instantly could tell, nothing good would come from this.

“My scooter refuses to start up, _again_! But I’m about to be late for my morning shift, please save me!”

Yeonjun sighed first thing as a response. If Soobin wasn’t quite literally his only and most trusted best friend, he would have dropped the call by ‘Jjunnie’. But this was Choi Soobin, and Soobin was the only breathing person who ever had the privilege to call him ‘Jjunnie’ despite him being a year older so yeah, that signaled enough how Yeonjun would be willing to sacrifice his sleep for him.

“Fine,” he grunted as he kicked his blanket off. “Where the hell are you now?”

“Uhm—I’m in main campus, right in front of the admin building.”

“What—why are you even there so early? It’s—” Yeonjun pulled the screen away for a sec to check the time. “7:30 am.”

Soobin chuckled, nervously, and Yeonjun knew he was about to blurt out incoherent excuses to avoid Yeonjun from cancelling on him. “Actually I—urm, I forgot my Thermodynamic assignment is supposed to due before 8 am today and prof demanded the hardcopy so I rushed here as soon as I finished. Haha.”

Yeonjun rolled his eyes despite not being able to see the guy. “Loser. Did you even sleep last night?”

“Urm…maybe not.”

_Maybe._ Yeah, Soobin was a wreck. And a dumb. He was a dumb wreck but Yeonjun still said, “’kay, I’ll see you in 5. Don’t pass out on me.”

“I won’t. Thanks, Jjunnie!”

And as promised to his best friend, Yeonjun appeared there on recorded time along with his mechanic toolbox. He wasted no time to squat down next to Soobin’s pink scooter and figured out what had gone wrong with the old lad while Soobin talked his ears off about his manager’s big nose and his snobbish attitude.

“Dude, if you hated him so much, just quit the damn job,” Yeonjun said, opening his palm toward Soobin in signal to hand over a screwdriver to him.

Soobin pouted, doing so. “But I can’t! At least not yet. There’s this _cutie_ —”

“So this is what it’s all about?” Yeonjun turned to him with a smirk. Soobin blinked, flashing an innocent stare. “What?”

“A cutie? You refuse to quit your part time job just because you’re crushing on a cutie?”

“What—no! Jjunnie, it’s not all just because of that! And don’t call him cutie, only _I_ can call him that. His name is Beomgyu—”

“Yeah, dude. You’re _totally_ not crushing on _Beomgyu_ the cutie when you already even know his name.”

“He buys coffee from us every day! We’re supposed to write their name on the cup!”

“Sure thing, loverboy,” Yeonjun finished with a chuckle as he finally stood up, dusting off dirt from his jeans and hands as he looked over to the grand hall across from the admin building, some noises attracted his attention.

“Anyways, there you go. Your pinky lil’ missy is all good—”

There was a large group of people, piling out through the main entrance of the hall, all bright faces and broad smiles, exchanging warm hugs and congratulations with one another—Yeonjun immediately recognized the crowd as the first years. And among hundreds of them, Yeonjun saw _him_.

His eyes caught sight of him for the first time.

Pearly round eyes, one-sided dimple and his sweet, childish smile.

Yeonjun had never been more entranced.

His eyes followed him as he descended down the staircase, surrounded by people who blurred into pure nothingness in Yeonjun’s sight and he noticed he was quite physically small for a college junior. His height didn’t overpower his circle of friends and he was drowning in his cute black blazer, sleeves dropping way down to the tips of his fingers. Yeonjun swallowed.

It was a dangerous line, one which he didn’t dare to cross because Yeonjun had his rules: _no befriending anyone new_ , they were all the same.

_He gonna find out who you are soon enough._

And by that time, Yeonjun knew he would have no impression to make toward that beautiful stranger because news about him never was pretty.

But.

But—

“—Jjunnie! Jjunnie! Yah, Choi Yeonjun!”

Yeonjun finally tore his eyes away.

He blinked upon Soobin’s scrunched up face, peering back and forth from him to the hall.

“What are you looking at? See someone you know?”

Yeonjun was about to open his mouth. _Who is that? Who is he? The beautiful one._

He chose to swallow the words.

“Nah, nothing. I just feel like I should greet the juniors and congrats them for their bad choices attending college.”

“Hey! Don’t discourage them!”

Yeonjun shrugged and stepped back to his Harley.

Climbing onto it, he took one last look over at the beauty still talking and laughing, throwing his head back with fresh enthusiasm oozing out of him. Somehow, his smile was contagious enough to give Yeonjun the same curve over his face, albeit thinly.

He kicked the pedal into live and Harley roared out loud. Yeonjun ignored the startled glances and curious stares he already could feel thrown his way. Just as he was fastening his helmet, Yeonjun caught it behind his tinted visor—the unknown sweetheart had his eyes on him too, just like the rest.

For a moment, _just_ a moment, in that split, insane second, Yeonjun considered breaking his own rule for the sake of approaching the beauty.

Yet he was Choi Yeonjun—the boy they warned you about—and there was no way it could be possible for any kind of connection to bloom between them. He zoomed out of the campus area, throwing all sort of false hopes away along the rushing wind despite images of the junior burning still by the back of his mind.

* * *

Yeonjun was deep and peaceful in his sleep over the floor when giggly laughter broke his serenity. He resisted the urge to groan, _this_ close to chase away whoever that motherfucker was from the other side of the shelf and tell them to shut the hell up because they were in library and Yeonjun needed his well-deserved sleep. Instead, he chose to breathe deeply, keeping his composure and push his Physics reference book tighter over his face in hope to block out the noise.

Luckily, it went silence—

And Yeonjun was about to drift back to sleep…

—for about a minute.

Then the laughter broke again and Yeonjun totally hissed out loud this time.

Pushing the book away from his face until it thumped down to the floor next to his ear, he frowned up to the high ceilings above while Yeonjun strained his ears to listen, finding suitable time to cut in and politely request _be quiet I want to sleep, please laugh elsewhere thanks_.

In the midst of the giggle and laughter, Yeonjun caught the conversation.

It sounded like two boys, talking back and forth right behind the shelf Yeonjun was hiding from.

“It’s so ridiculous! They told me to never visit the Physics department alone.”

“But if they said so, shouldn’t you at least hit the warning? The seniors have been here longer, Hyunnie. They might know better.”

“Yeah, they know better but doesn’t mean what they know is _true_.”

“Huh? What makes you say that?”

“You see, they said he—”

“—what’s his name again?”

“Choi Yeonjun sunbaenim?”

That was the first time anyone ever called him so politely and formally while gossiping about _him_.

He didn’t find it particularly surprising to wake up in library and hearing his name popped out in a random conversation first thing first but now, _now_ , Yeonjun was intrigued.

Slowly sitting up, he leaned against the wall behind to pay close attention.

“They said he’s dangerous, probably doing some sort of crimes or something outside the campus and that’s why he hasn’t yet graduated from his degree though it’s already his fourth? Fifth year?”

Fourth. God, who added another year to the history???

The other snorted. “And? You don’t believe that?”

“Actually I don’t,” that gentle, soothing voice answered without a second delay.

Yeonjun said straighter.

That was another _first_.

“Why?”

“Because I saw him once around Physics department—”

“—Taehyunnie! What did you even do there?”

“I had my lab there! Anyways, I saw him and he wasn’t _that_ bad.”

“Why? Is it because of his blue hair? No, wait, it must be because of his sexy lips right? And those legs, gosh—”

“No, Huening, you pervert.” A sweet laughter. “Though he’s admittedly hot, I’ll give him that, he was actually quite morally acceptable.”

“Explain morally acceptable.”

“An old cleaner aunty rushed to get into the same elevator as him and he waited for her, he held the doors open,” Yeonjun remembered that day.

“She gasped as soon as she saw him in there and reluctant to step inside but he took the sign calmly and walked out, telling her to go on alone. I saw him waited for that super slow elevator for about 5 minutes, Ning. But he just—gave it up to her maybe because he knew his presence would make her uncomfortable. It was sad but considerate.”

A silence.

“Sad because maybe he’s already so used to people avoiding him but considerate because that’s quite a gentleman deed.”

“And you think that’s enough to prove he’s not dangerous?”

That person laughed again and Yeonjun swore this time, his heart threatened to skip a beat.

“I’ve bumped into lots of people in elevator, Ning. Trust me, I can count with my fingers how many who would wait for an old lady especially after they have waited long for it to arrive. And he let her ride alone, that’s a show of respect to me.”

“Hmm, yeah. Maybe.”

“Besides, it’s totally not my place to judge actually. I don’t know him personally. Just because he dresses like a gangsta and rides around like he owns the whole place, doesn’t mean his heart is just as equally hideous. I honestly think we shouldn’t care that much about a stranger.”

His companion chuckled and chirped a simple “Yeah!”

But Yeonjun, Yeonjun was speechless.

He didn’t expect anyone would have such thoughts about him but that person, that person—

Crawling until he can peek to the other side through the rows of the books on the shelf, Yeonjun narrowed his eyes to try and put the face to the voice he just listened and—

There he was: the beautiful stranger he saw back at the opening ceremony for the juniors.

Yeonjun knew it was impossible, _they_ were impossible.

Yet somehow, he didn’t stop himself from being curious and attracted to those big, captivating eyes.

He wanted to know him better.

And the first thing he learned about him was his name: Taehyunnie—he was as beautiful as his name and mind.

Yeonjun was falling.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i should be updating dl&sk but ehhhhhhh


	3. so into you, can barely breathe

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [choi](https://www.pinterest.com/pin/729723945858600426/) [yeonjun](https://www.pinterest.com/pin/729723945858600439/) [with](https://www.pinterest.com/pin/729723945858600462/) [basketball](https://www.pinterest.com/pin/729723945858600499/) [is](https://www.pinterest.com/pin/729723945858600527/) [illegal](https://www.pinterest.com/pin/729723945858600545/)
> 
> thus, this chapter was born.

“We’re doomed. We totally gonna lose this,” was the first worrisome thought he heard as soon as Taehyun arrived at the court. He placed his water bottle and mini towel atop one of the bleachers, movement slow while he directed his furrow up to where another four guys from his faculty were gathering for a basketball practice this noon.

One of them scrunched up his nose in distaste, complaining, “Why do we have to join this match anyway? I thought sports merit should be optional?”

“Well, it’d be _optional_ if there’s someone with talent from our faculty who would volunteer in this match,” the one standing across from him explained, sarcasm high in his tone knowing none of the students from their faculty actually bothered about this upcoming yearly sports tournament going on among all the faculties. “But obviously, there’s none because apparently, Faculty of Electrical Engineering has been collecting only a bunch of helpless geeks with no athletic skills whatsoever.”

Taehyun almost rolled his eyes, because that was true. This year, his department was chosen to send out a junior male team in basketball match and guess what? They all suck at it. Though Taehyun had played this game once or twice before, it was already an ancient history since then. His skills were dated back to middle school which he doubted could be used for now. Bottom line, they _really_ were doomed and in desperate need of a proper practice in case they wanted to save their faculty from an embarrassing defeat.

Someone clicked his tongue.

“Speaking of geeks, can we just invent a whole robot which able to shoot and aim the ball itself? That way none of us have to practice. Right?” The idea seemed logical, coming from an electrical engineering major, yet no one agreed—or laughed—aside from the blank stare they threw at each other.

Taehyun heaved a sigh, darting his eyes away from his conflicted team members to a building next to the court they were on. He scanned the students trudging in and out from there, randomly looking but not truly seeing while his brain was moving fast with ideas to get help from somewhere regarding this match until, his sight landed straight on a guy.

“Hold on,” Taehyun called out before he could stop himself, a bulb already lighting bright over his head. “I think I have just the solution.”

The rest of the team turned to him, expecting Taehyun to voice his idea out but when he started walking over toward the building instead, they followed his line of direction and immediately gasped upon realizing _who_ his target was. One of them jerked forward, frantically trying to halt him.

“Woah—wait, wait, wait, Taehyunnie! That’s not—”

Taehyun ignored him, determined to step aside and march his way straight to the guy he thought could help them with their current misery. Though his steps seemed firm and clad in confidence, his insides were brewing with uncertain storm.

The last time he ever talked to this guy was back when he almost hijacked his superbike for the sake of completing a dumb dare given by his friend, Hueningkai. That night was amazing—magical even for Taehyun due to it been the first time ever he got to be face to face with not just the most intimidating senior of the campus, but also quite literally his crush. A _hard_ crush, at that.

They didn’t talk anymore after that, swept along by jam-packed classes and stressful assignments yet Taehyun never forgot about _him_ —Choi Yeonjun. In fact, he thought of him an awful lot more now especially when they had exchanged number during that night and as innocent as it was, a goodnight peck.

Taehyun can’t stop thinking about that brief kiss, his soft lips, his deep but warm stare, and of course, his non-arrival texts.

He left him baffled, confused and wondering why in hell the senior made no move to contact him again despite Yeonjun promised to never make their unexpected first meeting be their last meeting as well.

Taehyun was afraid to toy with possibility that Yeonjun found him boring, or just another junior trying to get close to him but now that the universe led them to meet this way, Taehyun wasn’t going to let it slip.

Yeonjun was yet to notice him getting closer, pacing down the stairs in that laid-back but cool way he always was, eyes upon nowhere but his waiting Harley. The junior thought he was always like that, mindless of his surroundings even when he had all eyes focused solely on his presence every time he so much walked the campus ground.

It wasn’t until he finally stopped to pick up his helmet that Taehyun reached his side too and didn’t hesitate to throw him a bold, almost grunting question:

“So when are you planning to _finally_ contact me?”

Yeonjun looked up, didn’t even flinch or shock to have someone suddenly standing so close in his personal space. In contrary, it was Taehyun who flattered a bit, eyes unable to stay locking on the senior, not with the sudden intrusive, but dreamy gaze he directed at him.

“Hello to you too, petal.” Yeonjun didn’t smile, yet his eyes certainly did, brightening a bit upon the realization Taehyun initiated the talk with him.

He resisted the urge to swallow down his suddenly scratchy throat, aiming to look _composedly_ annoyed (if there was even such a thing). “Don’t sweet talk me, I’m very mad right now.”

“You are?” Yeonjun etched up one of his thick, dangerous eyebrows and Taehyun cursed in his head, warning himself not to fall so quickly into his mind game and stand his ground. But Yeonjun was dragging his eyes up and down his body, watching with this brief amusement on his face on the way Taehyun had one hand over his hip and furrows lining over his forehead. He then shrugged, “I thought I’m looking at a grumpy kitten rather than a raged lion. I’m _scared_ , baby.”

Taehyun almost died on the spot.

But he didn’t. Of course, he didn’t. Instead, he responded with a light snort.

“So I see,” Taehyun narrowed his eyes at Yeonjun. “You’re playing hard to get.”

Yeonjun didn’t deny it, and he didn’t even make any move to ask him why he appeared here so with a barely concealed disappointment in his voice, Taehyun nodded and turned around. “I’m just gonna go then—”

A strong grip halted him by his wrist.

Taehyun peered over his shoulders to where Yeonjun looking almost in panic.

“Hey, don’t leave. I’m sorry, I...urm,” the senior dropped his gaze briefly to his shoes and Taehyun had no idea why it made him so giddy and happy inside, to see the ever cool Choi Yeonjun stammering around to explain himself. All because of _him_. “I’ve been trying to come up with topics to text you but until now…I have none.”

“Really? Why?” Taehyun couldn’t quite believe that. “Is it so hard to talk to me?”

“Well…,” Yeonjun dragged out his reason, tugging him in until Taehyun was entirely facing him again and only then he looked him in the eyes, unsettling but honest—it caused Taehyun want to run away as much as he wanted to get closer to the senior. Yeonjun then said through his hushed, husky voice, “It won’t be so hard if the person I’m tryna text isn’t quite the most gorgeous junior in the whole campus.”

Taehyun clamped his mouth shut.

He screamed at his heart to stop whatever race it currently having.

Then he (weakly) chuckled, “Flattery will get you nowhere, mister.”

Yeonjun grinned, and there went his poor heart again, thumping madly. “At least you’re talking to me now.”

“That’s because _I_ approached you first,” Taehyun pointed out, almost stubbornly, and Yeonjun dropped his hold on him for the sake of bringing both of his palms up in the air, surrendering. “Alright, you got me. It’s my fault. So what can I do to compensate that, petal?”

He wasn’t sure why but that spontaneous nickname sounded so intimate and close to him. Sounded like it was made _just_ for him. As if he was soft and delicate, somehow endearing to Yeonjun.

Taehyun liked it too much.

And he tried not to blush.

“You can teach me basketball,” he said, glimpsing back to his teammates still watching them both with curious stare. “If you have some free time now.”

Yeonjun didn’t immediately answer. He furrowed a bit while he thought it over. “How do you know I can play?”

“Just a guess.” He told instead of admitting to Yeonjun how he may or may not have seen him playing basketball alone more than once, mostly during dusk over at a secluded court in Science Faculty, whenever he had to finish his Physics lab really late into the evening. Taehyun waved a hand randomly at Yeonjun’s face when the senior didn’t seem convinced of his response. “You seem like the type of guy who would do sports.”

Yeonjun finally shrugged, buying that. “Do I get anything in return?”

“I thought this supposed to be compensation!” Taehyun exclaimed, mocking his offense.

And Yeonjun laughed. The junior tried to ignore the way it made his stomach flutter pleasantly.

“Kidding, beautiful,” Yeonjun shook his head gently, placing back his helmet to its initial position for the sake of following Taehyun to the court. “It’s not like I’m expecting a kiss or a date or something.”

“Well, you might get those…” Taehyun’s voice almost drowned in his slight uncertainty. He refused to raise his hope high. “If you make this practice a success.”

“I’m tempted,” Yeonjun replied playfully, finally setting his eyes over to the court and adding in flat tone once he saw how the remaining four guys retreated back to the bleachers the moment they realized Taehyun was bringing Yeonjun over with him, “But I don’t think your friends would be so comfortable having me around.”

Taehyun finally looked up at this too, narrowing his eyes upon them and noticing how they tried to put as much distance as they can from Yeonjun. The junior was quick to click his tongue, stopping halfway just so he can make a clear point that he had no intention to get Yeonjun involved with the rest of them.

“Who says about training all of us?” He asked instead to Yeonjun. “I said you can teach _me_ basketball. I never say I’m willing to _share_.”

Yeonjun burst into laughter again, loud enough to cause their small audience gaped at them.

Choi Yeonjun never laughed, at least not to a random junior.

This was such a bizarre sight. And Taehyun was proud he became the prime reason to it.

“Possessive…” Yeonjun drawled, corner of his mouth twitched a bit into a smirk. “You’re so interesting, petal.”

Taehyun got tempted to inform him he had far more interesting sides to show to the senior if only Yeonjun took his time getting to know him. Yet it was all died in vain once Yeonjun turned away and walked over to the nearest bleacher, not giving any warning when he proceeded to take his jacket off.

As per usual, his [outfit](https://www.pinterest.com/pin/729723945858593314/) today was such a top-notch. Yeonjun never failed to appear as casual as his aura while also turning every path he walked on into his own runway. The jacket he threw down to the bleacher was leather as usual, coupled with a plain black Supreme tee underneath and dusty black jeans, largely ripped upon his thigh and knee. His overall pitch black fashion made his messy blue hair stood out the most, yet once he pivoted back to face Taehyun, the junior can’t help but find himself most attracted upon his right [_arm_](https://www.pinterest.com/pin/729723945858600320/) rather than his hair.

“Wow…” he breathed, unable to look away from a very magnificent art tattooed along Yeonjun’s light honey skin. This was the first time he ever saw the senior with short sleeve tee and he was astonished to discover Yeonjun had that mysterious animal crafted over skin, black and emerald ink shaped into combination of the animal and some flowery patterns.

It screamed _attitude_ and it was _so_ Yeonjun.

It was _beautiful_. _Yeonjun_ was beautiful.

“You’re not gonna report me to the Dean, are you?” Only upon the low voice asking him that Taehyun snapped his eyes away from Yeonjun’s arm.

The senior didn’t seem afraid of such possibility. If anything, he looked amused of Taehyun’s fascination on his tattoo. Taehyun was quick to flash him a smile.

“Of course not, it’s not an offense,” he shook his head before shrugging. “I just didn’t know you have a tattoo.”

“Tattoos,” Yeonjun corrected.

“Wait, really? Where else do you have them?”

He smirked, “Definitely not at areas appropriate enough to be seen in public.”

Taehyun quickly lowered his face, furrowing down to his shoes and chewing his lip because _what the fuck was that?_ Choi Yeonjun shouldn’t be allowed to have _this_ much power in making him blush so easily!

“It’s adorable, though.” Taehyun admitted. “That fox.”

“Actually it’s a wolf,” Yeonjun informed, casually waving his tattooed arm up but Taehyun almost melted in embarrassment. “But I’ll take fox, whatever you think it is.”

The junior refused to further embarrass himself so he urged them to get on with the practice, guiding them both to the center of the court facing the tall pole of the goal where Yeonjun started with a question, “Okay, so what’s your position in your team?”

“Well, we haven’t talked about that yet ‘cuz obviously everyone’s forced into this so we literally just started today…” Taehyun sounded uncertain, yet Yeonjun gave him a slow nod while narrowing his eyes, thinking. “So I guess you’ll be the shooting guard?”

“Pardon?”

“’Cuz you’re short and cute size—”

“Hey!”

“—so I assume you’d work the best as the shooting guard.”

Taehyun grimaced, “Should I know what that means?”

“What, shooting guard? Don’t tell me you have no idea at all about basketball including the playing positions,” Yeonjun deadpanned with huge eyes upon him. Taehyun can only grin, scratching his nape.

“You’re right, I have zero idea.”

He presumably thought the senior was going to make fun of his lack of basketball knowledge. All he got in return however was a fond gaze and a lighthearted chuckle. “Lucky you have me here, right?”

Yeah, Taehyun considered himself very lucky today.

Yeonjun then launched into a quick but concise explanation of everything basic he needed to know about the game—all the positions, rules, type of shots and scoring points. Taehyun found himself easily got drawn to him, thinking it was fascinating to see Yeonjun in his serious and focused mode. The slight furrow he had over his forehead whenever he threw the ball, aiming for the goal. The way his tongue darted out, wetting his pink lips every time he monitored where the ball was bouncing, waiting eagerly to catch it back into his arms. The sharp, predatory gaze he had up upon the high pole, and the sweat trickling down from his fringes along his temple and to the tip of his sculptured jawline. All of this, _all_ of Yeonjun made Taehyun lost idea why his brain could only scream at him how _‘Choi Yeonjun is so fucking cool’_ , or _‘he’s the best, literal basketball genius’_ , and the worst was _‘his boyfriend or girlfriend is so fucking lucky’_.

Taehyun stopped listening for a second, slipping away with that suffocating thought.

Yeonjun’s boyfriend.

Yeonjun’s.

He had this _strong_ desire for that, but—

“Now that you know the basics, keep in mind that basketball is all about concentration,” Yeonjun snapped him out of it, pulling Taehyun’s attention back to him while he panted. He pushed his damp bangs backward and Taehyun tried not to stare at his exposed forehead, glistening with sweat. “In the court, you’ll find yourself easily distracted by everything else that goes around in the middle of the game. And you cannot lose focus _especially_ on the ball even just for two seconds. You’ll hear loud cheering, shoes screeching, panting, shouting, timer ticking and anything else so now I’ll show you how to focus merely on the ball and goal despite all the distraction.”

Taehyun wanted to tell him Choi Yeonjun was his prime distraction right in the moment. Yet all he responded with was a simple “Let’s do it.”

Yeonjun nodded, “We’ll play ten questions. I’ll ask you the questions, you need to answer them while trying to take the ball from me and shoot it. Think you can do that, petal?”

Taehyun widened his eyes, far from ready.

“Wait, isn’t that just you—”

He was given no time to finish speaking, or think, as Yeonjun sprinted toward him and snatched the orange ball from his hands in a flash. He ran to the opposite side, clearly aiming to send it to the goal and Taehyun groaned, commanding his legs to run after him.

“So what’s your favorite color?” Yeonjun shot the first question while Taehyun jumped, trying to slap the ball out of his grip.

“Uh, yel—yellow!”

“Have any siblings?”

“Just me and a sister!” Yeonjun shot a point, catching the ball back into his hold despite narrowly about to slam Taehyun down to the floor when they almost bumped into each other. He ran back to the center of the court and dribbled it low, peering at Taehyun’s frustrated face while they crouched low and smirking, obviously enjoying his failed attempts so far.

“Hmph, older? Younger?”

“Older!” Taehyun screamed, extending a hand out toward the ball but Yeonjun threw it past his head and ran over him to catch it.

“How about pet?”

The junior huffed, “I have one back home!”

“Cute,” Yeonjun laughed, not at all out of breath. “A puppy?”

“No—argh!” Taehyun stopped midway answering to grunt when the ball fell a second into his palm, only to be pushed away by Yeonjun in the next second. The senior scurried away through his laughter. “Dammit, that was close! And, no. I have a cat.”

“You look more like a dog person.”

“That’s probably true, I like dogs. I wanna adopt one if I can later—oof!” The ball almost landed into the basket but Yeonjun jumped so high, he managed to slap it away to opposite direction by last minute.

“Are you a coffee addict?”

“Nope, but it’s a necessity as a student.”

He didn’t notice how or when, but they certainly were gaining audience more than just his four teammates now. Students from the buildings nearby had started taking their seats around the bleachers to watch Taehyun suffer in this ruthless training Yeonjun made him go through.

“True, so what kind of coffee you like?”

“Anything but Americano,” he answered without thinking and Yeonjun paused from running.

“Shame, I love Americano,” he shrugged and simply shot the ball from where he stood. “Guess we’ll never get to go for a coffee date.”

The ball flew over in the air and Taehyun watched in utter devastation when it once _again_ , went straight into the basket. He shouted out loud, “I never say I won’t go and you ask me nothing about coffee date!”

Yeonjun laughed. He fucking _laughed_. _The audacity—_

“Fair enough, so would you wanna go for a coffee date with me tomorrow?”

“What—”

The fucking ball slipped from his hands.

“Welp, that’s not very proper,” Yeonjun threw him a wink, dribbling the stolen ball. “I haven’t asked you if you’re single currently.”

“Then ask me, bastard!”

“You’re so cute,” Yeonjun cooed. “I like you already.”

“As you should,” Taehyun grumbled amidst his huffs and puffs, only realizing what he just said when Yeonjun stopped dribbling the ball. His eyes widened in instant. “No, wait. I mean—”

“Are you single?” Yeonjun frowned like he very much curious and Taehyun rolled his eyes, making no effort to catch the ball even when Yeonjun gave it up to him, rolling it over until it came bouncing by his ankle. “Very much.”

“That’s quite shocking. Didn’t page you as such with you know,” Yeonjun gestured with his hand, drawing an invisible circle around his head. “That face and all…”

“This face and all, yeah…” Taehyun pointed to his own lethargic and sweaty face. “I’m very much single, though.”

Yeonjun stopped moving to stare straight at him. His face serious.

“Last question, why?”

Taehyun snorted, face twisted in major disbelief and annoyance. He picked up the ball and made a run around the court, aiming for the goal right from outside the three-point line.

“Because I’ve been crushing on that one blue haired guy and helplessly waiting for him to hopefully notice me someday and ask me out but apparently he’s too dumb of a lone wolf who doesn’t have the gut to text me _even_ after I gave him my number!” With that blown out of his chest, Taehyun jumped as high as he can up in the air and slammed the ball away, landing onto his legs with a harsh grunt and missing the exact moment the ball dropped straight into the basket caused his eyes snapped close for a second.

He opened his eyes to Yeonjun clapping his hands, together with his teammates cheering for him…and some other students swooning over his stunt.

“You shot a three-point,” Yeonjun informed him, smirk plastered all high and proud over his face. “That’s impressive.”

“Than—thank you.” Taehyun couldn’t believe what he just did.

All he knew was he got so fucking frustrated when Yeonjun seemed to have no idea of his feelings for him.

The next time he blinked, the senior already slowly approaching him.

“So…would you?” He stopped exactly before him, forcing Taehyun to look up because he was unfairly _tall_. Yeonjun smiled down at him. “Go on a coffee date…with me?”

Taehyun gulped, “The rule is just 10 questions, though.”

“Technically you answered only 9 out 10 questions. Coffee date is still unanswered.” Yeonjun challenged him with his etched up eyebrow. Taehyun hated it whenever he looked at him like _that_ , as if he got Taehyun all figured out.

“I’ll go…” His voice was small when he answered, “If you start texting me after this.”

Yeonjun narrowed his eyes, thinking and Taehyun quickly added, “I’ll give you a topic, let’s continue this 10 questions game. I haven’t had my turn to ask you.”

Yeonjun nodded at last, smiling thinly. “Deal, I might even call you tonight.”

“Then I’ll wait,” Taehyun tried not to burst in his excitement, “For the call…and the date.”

“Cool.”

“Cool.”

Then the moment was broken when Yeonjun shifted his eyes down to his wristwatch, checking the time. He looked up apologetically at him afterward.

“Sorry, petal. I gotta go.” He pointed randomly back to Harley, “Class at 2 PM.”

Taehyun nodded despite his blooming pout, “Yeah, sure. Thank you for everything…today.”

“Don’t mention it, I scored my date already,” Yeonjun dismissed it while he jogged back over to fetch his jacket and phone and Taehyun followed after him, debating with himself whether he should say it out loud or not all the while Yeonjun was putting his jacket back on.

All eyes were still very much around them, and he wasn’t sure how would Yeonjun react to it but—

“Well you haven’t for the kiss,” he said and Yeonjun blinked at him. His eyes scanned around briefly.

“But everybody is—”

His words died down exactly the moment Taehyun stood on his toes and smacked a kiss onto his cheek, quick, forceful, panicky but certainly bold.

A whole statement.

Taehyun stood straighter again and peered up at Yeonjun through his eyelashes, smiling. “I don’t care about anybody.”

Slowly, bit by bit, Yeonjun smiled back at him. The ever sweet and charming.

“I’ll see you soon, petal,” was all he said before he ruffled Taehyun on his hair and started toward Harley.

“Hyunnie!” Someone called his name, yet Taehyun didn’t turn to look, eyes too focused upon Yeonjun as he climbed onto his bike and roared it into live. That someone stopped beside him, “What—woah, woah…”

“Who is _that_?” Hueningkai whispered almost mysteriously under his breath. He clearly knew who that was but Taehyun humored him, rolling his eyes while he answered:

“That’s just my Choi Yeonjun—”

“— _Your_ what?”

Yeonjun finally sped off, vanishing fast from their sight and Taehyun turned to collect his water bottle and towel. He shot Hueningkai a lazy smile, “Anyways, I’m heading back to dorm. Have fun training the rest.”

His friend blanched, “But—I thought you should be practicing too!”

“Nope, I had my training. Bye, Ning!”


	4. baby, you’re caramel macchiato

Yeonjun had his eyes fixed upon his phone, specifically on that contact he had saved for quite a while yet never made a move to reach out since he first obtained it. He tapped on the circular icon, enlarging the image and found himself swallowing. Because _what the fuck_.

Was it true [_this_](https://www.pinterest.com/pin/729723945860990252/) was the person he wanted to prompt a conversation with?

Kang Taehyun in a red beret, peachy clear skin, gleaming eyes and some cute white outfit was just too much for his heart.

Yeonjun wished he could wave his white flag already.

He might be the infamous aloof and badass senior of the campus but he was never above being cowardice when it came to deal with puppy love.

Puppy love made his heart fucking race and he hated how his cheeks were turning warm the longer he stared upon the photo.

So he hit the Home button, tossed his phone aside and threw his body down to his bed.

His ceiling was mocking him, calling him hideous names, laughing at him for being a child and reprimanding him how upset Taehyun would be if he didn’t contact the junior as he promised him to back at the court.

And Yeonjun wanted to punch his ceiling.

With a long, frustrated groan, he sat back up and snatched his phone.

Yeonjun decided he was going to wing this just as how he had been winging everything else in his life.

God, save him.

Yeonjun started typing the introduction. 

**How do I text someone pretty:**

Hi, petal

How are you?

His finger hovered above the Send button, rereading the text. Then he backspaced everything.

**How do I text someone pretty:**

Hey

What’s up?

**How do I text someone pretty:**

Halo?

**How do I text someone pretty:**

Hi

He grumbled once more, typing for the seventh time and finally smashed the Send button, watching intently with furrowed brows how the message had been transmitted to Taehyun, irreversible and should be done with no regret.

**u fucking loser just be normal:**

So we’re still playing the 10 questions, right?

I assume we still are

Shoot

The 1st question

Well, Yeonjun had started to regret all of this.

Because he seemed rude instead of chill.

_Oh my god_ , he should have gone with the _Hi_. He should have introduced himself first. He should—

**Stop making my heart race:**

Well hello to you too : )

Look who finally showed up

Yeonjun gulped, rereading the reply over and over again before he took a deep breath and forced his fingers not to shake too much.

**CYJ.EXE HAS STOPPED:**

At least I don’t chicken out for 2nd time, right?

: D

He lied. He chickened out _several_ times.

But no one needed to know that, of course.

**OMG HE WAITED FOR MY TEXT:**

I really am not as scary as you think I am

His eyes darted a bit up to Taehyun’s icon photo and Yeonjun responded without thinking, told him the first thing that ever came to his mind right now.

**CYJ IS FOUND PERISHED IN HIS DORM:**

No, but you’re beautiful

And I don’t ever wanna mess this up

Yeonjun cursed, wishing to all Gods ever existed up there to rewind back that message but instead of listening to him, God commanded his phone to blare out with a call. He almost dropped his phone when he realized it was Taehyun.

“He—hey,” he tried to sound normal, emotionally assured.

“Hey,” Taehyun’s voice was merry, as if Yeonjun wasn’t affecting him as much as the junior did to Yeonjun. “Sorry if this is too sudden but I’m just too lazy to type all the questions.”

“Nah, it’s cool. I promised to give you a call as well so…” His voice dying down, brain short-circuited and got him wish he hung around people more often other than just Soobin. Because if so, he wouldn’t be as socially constipated as he was now.

Luckily, Taehyun didn’t seem to pick up upon the awkward pause, naturally continuing with, “So, first question, if you woke up one day and apples grew out of your hair, what would you do?”

Yeonjun can’t help but laugh, clearly never expected the opening question to be as such. “Excuse me, _what_ grew out of my _hair_?”

“Apples, you know the fruit—”

“No, no, wait—” Yeonjun scrambled up to sit straighter, leaning against the headboard of his bed, “But why apples? Why are you curious about that of _all_ things about me?”

Taehyun clicked his tongue, “Okay, mister, there’s a rule to this and that you don’t question me back when I ask you something. You’re just supposed to answer them, remember?”

Yeonjun smiled to himself, already can picture the endearing way Taehyun might be pouting now. “You’re so bossy for someone so _little_.”

“Tsk, I just—”

“Are you pouting now?”

“I am _not_ ,” Taehyun responded fast and stubborn. “Answer it, quickly!”

And Yeonjun laughed once more, finding himself more and more relaxed the longer they got into the conversation. It wasn’t so bad, it was fun in fact. Taehyun was so easy to talk to, the way he always got quirky response to everything, facts lacing with jokes. They were fascinating and Yeonjun was attracted even badly.

“Alright, favorite ice cream?” They were by the ninth question, yet Yeonjun felt as if they had been on the phone even longer.

“Mint Choco, without any doubt or second thoughts.”

“Oh my god, ew? That’s like eating toothpaste straight out of the carton.”

Yeonjun rolled his eyes, “Then that’s good, right? You’re multitasking, brushing your teeth and eating ice cream.”

“You’re disgusting! I revoke all my desires to kiss you,” Taehyun didn’t sound like he was joking but Yeonjun would be lying if he said it didn’t make his heart stop a beat when he heard it.

The line went silent for a minute.

“What, so you wanna kiss me again?” He asked, just to be sure.

“No, wait—” Only now he seemed to catch what he just spluttered out. “I did not just say that! Rewind—”

Yeonjun’s grin was way too big, regaining his confidence bit by bit. “I’ll kiss you tomorrow, when we meet for the coffee date.”

He wished he was being smooth with his reply. But judging for the short quietness by the other side of the line, maybe he shouldn’t be so straightforward.

Yeonjun opened his mouth to apologize and—

“So you’re serious about that date,” it wasn’t a question.

“If only you want to,” Yeonjun breathed out, didn’t understand why he was so afraid to think of the possibility for Taehyun turning down the date.

“Of course I want to,” but his voice was light once more, even coupled with his gentle chuckle and Yeonjun sagged back to his bed, smiling to his ceiling which was probably rolling its eyes at him. “Cool, then I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Cool, I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“You want me to pick you up at your dorm?”

Taehyun hummed, “That’s alright, I can just walk over to the coffee house. It’s at the usual Fluffy Treats, right?”

“Yup, the one and only coffee shop in campus.”

“Great,” Taehyun concluded it as if he was about to end the call, “Well for now, good night!”

“What—wait, you haven’t asked me the last question,” Yeonjun deduced the math quickly in his mind. Yet what he received in return was a lazy giggle. “Hmm, I think I’ll reserve that one for tomorrow.”

“Oh, okay,” Yeonjun agreed to keep the suspense going, “Night, petal.”

The convo ended but the huge curve over his face didn’t fade, not even when he went to sleep that night.

* * *

Yeonjun usually dressed like he wanted people to stay at least five kilometers away from him. And that was true, people ain’t shit and he preferred being the lone wolf the way he was. As for today however, he decided to make a slight change to that rule.

He wanted to appear approachable, easy-going and pleasant to be with, in general.

For whom you may ask? For Kang Taehyun.

The only issue to that was the moment he scanned his wardrobe, Yeonjun regretfully found nothing but an excessive array of dark colored clothes and leather jackets. _Seriously_ , who even needed _that_ many leather jackets? He, Choi Yeonjun needed them apparently. He was obsessed with it.

So with a miserable sigh, he finally settled with his trusty black [blazer](https://www.pinterest.com/pin/729723945860896942/), one that always helped whenever he needed something formal for class presentation. Coupled it with a midnight blue jeans and a black beret, Yeonjun snatched his sneakers instead of his favorite boots and left the dorm.

He arrived at Fluffy Treats exactly five minutes before their promised time to meet, checking his appearance once more by Harley’s side mirror and made his way through the entrance after a quick, calming breath.

It was 8 in the week morning, barely any students yet in here so with just a brief scan of his eyes, Yeonjun easily spotted his date. His brain was signaling him to walk over to that table secured by Taehyun, yet his heart had a different problem.

Yeonjun was rendered speechless and immobilized the second his eyes fell upon the junior.

Taehyun was just sitting by the glass window, face casted down to whatever that was laid upon the table before him. But the way the morning sunray rained over him, shining his brown hair to look softer and his honey skin to seem fairer, Yeonjun’s breath was ultimately stolen.

Unlike Yeonjun who dressed to impress, Taehyun was laid-back and comfortable in his plain white [tee](https://www.pinterest.com/pin/729723945860897551/), tugged in a ripped jeans and a pair of black sports shoes protecting his feet. He was effortless, but still charming, if the way he caused havoc to Yeonjun’s heart was any indication of it.

Yeonjun must have been standing by the door for quite a while because a waitress nearby was throwing him questioning side-eye and he cleared his throat, swore to play it cool as he finally commanded his legs to function again.

There weren’t much people around, but already he could tell, his steps were being watched by the waitress and customers alike, following him until he stopped right in front of Taehyun.

“May I take your order, sir?”

The junior didn’t yet peer up, scribbling something over a paper while shaking his head, “Nah, that’s alright. I’m just waiting for—”

His words halted the moment their eyes met. Taehyun didn’t hide the way his eyes dragging up and down Yeonjun’s body, openly checking him out and the senior laughed out.

“Have you been here for long?” He broke the eye contact for the sake of scanning the rest of the stuff scattering upon the table. There were worksheets, a laptop, some pens and a calculator.

“Nope,” Taehyun leaned back to the chair, using the pen in his hand to tap on the question he was working before putting it aside. “I just arrived, just about to start on my Phy—Physics assignment. Anyways, coffee?”

Physics. That was his major.

Was this a trap?

Yeonjun refused to panic over the possibility of his intelligence to be tested if Taehyun ever asked his help to study. So he said instead, opening his arm toward the counter, “After you.”

Taehyun responded with a light chuckle and stood up, leading them both into a short queue already forming by the only available counter they opened today.

“So last time you said you love Americano,” Taehyun smiled up to him, too radiant for 8 am in the morning. Yeonjun attempted not to swoon (he totally did, internally). “Is it your favorite?”

“Sort of,” Yeonjun shrugged, “I can take other coffee but if I wanna stay awake, that’s the only one which would work on me.”

“Hmm, how about we do some exchange?” The junior suddenly suggested, eyes squinting over to the board hung atop the counter, listed with all drinks offered by this place. “I’ll order yours while you can surprise me with your choice.”

Yeonjun didn’t know why but he was both endeared and thrilled by Taehyun’s unreadable personality. He was like a magical maze, just when Yeonjun thought he had figured him out right, Taehyun leaped to the left. He flashed him a mysterious grin, “I like sweet people, not sweet drinks.”

Taehyun rolled his eyes, sassy. “And it’s unbelievable how you take your coffee bitter when you’re _this_ flirty sweet.”

“Alright, petal,” Yeonjun didn’t notice how easy it was to laugh around Taehyun. He normally was stoic during first meetings. “The choice is yours.”

Taehyun beamed at him and Yeonjun really, _really_ tried to control himself from grinning too much. But he guessed that was just what beautiful things did to you, made you smile and felt unreasonably happy.

Yeonjun focused back ahead to the barista behind the counter and that was the second someone _very_ familiar greeted another customer just before them.

“Hi, welcome to Fluffy Treats! May I take your—”

Soobin’s greeting came to an abrupt stop, big, surprised eyes flickering from the customer in front of him and further over to Yeonjun and Taehyun. He didn’t remember Soobin having the morning shift today but _this better be good_ , he thought as he raised an eyebrow back to his best friend.

The customer was baffled with what he might have seen behind him and decided to turn around. The golden blond haired guy immediately recognized his date, greeting with a cheerful “Oh, hey, it’s Taehyunie!”

“Beomgyu hyung!” His date recognized blond dude too, apparently. Soobin frowned while Yeonjun eyed them back and forth skeptically.

“I haven’t seen you around for a while,” Beomgyu seemed to forget he had an order to place while he began conversing with Taehyun. “Where have you been?”

Wait.

_Beomgyu?_

Yeonjun looked over to Soobin again and the way his best friend had his eyes narrowed sharply upon Taehyun already revealed too much. Yeonjun clicked his tongue. Now he _remembered_ , who this Beomgyu was to Soobin.

He connected the dots.

Taehyun answered after a chuckle, “I’m just a bit busy with exam and some club stuff but hey—”

“Is this your cutie?” Yeonjun shot the question to Soobin, which the barista immediately gasped and bulged his eyes at him, “Shut—”

Everyone turned to look at everyone.

“Who are you talking to?” Taehyun asked him, tone sounded perplexed.

“Just our barista of the day, Choi Soobin,” Yeonjun made sure to emphasize on the name, just in case Beomgyu never knew his best friend’s name. He then directed his smile down at blond guy, “By the way, who is this? Your friend?”

“Yes, it’s my senior from one of our club activities and we’ve known each other since high school,” Taehyun informed and Yeonjun stuck his palm out after a nod, “Cool, Choi Yeonjun.”

“I know you,” blond guy smiled back, taking his hand for a quick shake. “I’m Choi Beomgyu.”

Yeonjun snorted, shaking his head. “I told myself a million times not to be surprised anymore whenever I introduce myself to anyone in campus and it turns out that person already knows who I am. I mean, introduction should come both ways.”

“Nah, I don’t really know that much. Just heard your name here and there,” Beomgyu dismissed it lightheartedly yet Yeonjun could tell there was nothing lighthearted with the news he probably had heard about him. “But really, there’s nothing too interesting to know about me compared to you.”

“Well I don’t think that’s true,” Yeonjun narrowed his eyes up to Soobin instead, “There’s someone here who’s actually _very_ interested—”

“Em, ahem!” The barista finally interrupted, fishing everyone’s attention back to him as he curved up a bright smile down to Beomgyu, “Hi! Welcome to Fluffy Treats! May I take your order?”

“Ah, sorry. Got a bit distracted,” blond guy apologized while turning his body to face Soobin again. “I mean, I’ll take the usual—”

“Grande Hot White Chocolate Mocha, Scramble Eggs and Peanut Butter pancake?” Soobin punched in the orders without needing confirmation from Beomgyu. It caused blond guy to chuckle, albeit a bit shyly.

“Yes, yes. God,” he shook his head, seemingly impressed. “This is why I love coming over when you’re on shift, you always memorize my orders—”

“That’s because he literally has a thing for your face,” Yeonjun said before he could even cut his tongue.

“Pardon?” Beomgyu glanced back at him and Yeonjun quickly denied it, “Nothing, I’m just reading the—urm, menu.”

He excused it as such while pointing up at the menu board. He can feel Taehyun’s confused stare burning hole into his side profile yet it was too much fun teasing Soobin so he ignored it for the sake of watching the barista subtly throwing daggers at him through his eyes.

“Then, anything else?” He was quick to smile when he looked back down at Beomgyu though.

“No, that’s all,” Beomgyu concluded. “And my name is—”

“Cutie.”

“Beomgyu.”

The pair of best friends answered at the same time.

And before Beomgyu could tilt his head for the third time to Yeonjun, Soobin moved so fast calculating the total and rushing out to inform him, “That would be 6,165 won, thank you for your payment. Please wait there to fetch your orders!”

Blond guy was obviously bewildered, yet he did so without another word out and finally, it was Taehyun and Yeonjun’s turn to step up closer to the counter. Yeonjun was eager to tease, resting his elbow atop the marble counter while he greeted Soobin with a mischievous grin, “So hi, I wanna—”

“What the hell was that about?” Soobin leaned in to whisper angrily at him.

Well, as angry as someone with soft face like him can get. Yeonjun raised up his palms in surrender.

“Woah, so what happened to _hi, welcome to Fluffy Treats_? I’m a customer too, you know.”

Taehyun at last cut in between them, “You both…know each other?”

“No,” Soobin answered just as quick as Yeonjun’s “Yes.”

Yeonjun winked down at Taehyun while Soobin grunted.

“He’s my best friend—”

“He’s just a jerk—”

Taehyun ended up blinking, perhaps caught in even further confusion.

“Anyways, welcome to Fluffy Treats,” Soobin pulled himself back in, body straightening once he probably remembered there were still other customers waiting behind the pair. “What can I get for both of you?”

Taehyun was excited to order, “I’ll have venti—”

“Venti?” Yeonjun can’t help but frown because that was gonna be _huge_.

“—Iced Peach Green Tea Lemonade, please?”

Yeonjun never heard or drank of such beverage so he snorted, “That sounds really fancy, like Sharpay Evans as a drink—”

“What—” It was Taehyun’s turn to furrow up at him but Yeonjun already turned to face Soobin once more, posing him a concern look. “Just tell me something, is it sweet?”

He didn’t yet figure it out why, but Taehyun seemed determined to give him diabetes.

“Depends on _how_ sweet you want it,” Soobin shrugged, clearly unbothered. “So how sweet you want it?”

“The _sweetest_ , please!” Taehyun demanded cheerfully and Yeonjun almost blanched, eyeing him in disbelief but Taehyun’s smile never loosened down.

“That will suit you, right?” He winked back at him, “You and your _friendly_ mouth.”

Ah.

So he (might) be jealous when Yeonjun prompted a sudden conversation with Beomgyu just now.

Yeonjun rolled his eyes.

“Well, then, I’ll have tall Hot Blonde Caffe Americano,” he proceeded to place his order for Taehyun’s drink.

“Tall,” Taehyun repeated with a nod, “Hmph, how considerate.”

Yeonjun chuckled, playing along in this mind game Taehyun seemed to love putting him in. “I know right, and it’s _Hot Blonde_.”

The junior huffed but made no move to rebuke him further as he informed again to Soobin.

“Name is Taehyun,” to which Yeonjun added with “You already know mine.”

Then they paid and waited for their drinks to come. Soobin slid Taehyun’s lemonade with a polite bow and grin. Yet the moment he turned to Yeonjun, his Americano was dumped far from gracefully, coupled it with a glare even before he stomped back off to the counter.

Taehyun picked up Yeonjun’s cup that was supposed to be his drink and immediately furrowed upon the cupsleeve.

“Who is _Asshole_?”

Yeonjun can’t help but burst out laughing, immediately covering his mouth with the back of his palm because the rest of the baristas behind the counter were turning their heads toward them, excluding Soobin though. He remained passive-aggressively punching in orders by the counter.

“That would be me,” Yeonjun explained, then cranked his neck a bit to holler at his best friend, “Yup, thanks Soobinie! Should have tipped you better.”

Taehyun shook his head, but made no further comment as he led them back to their table, Yeonjun taking the place opposite from the junior before he gave the cup in Taehyun’s hands a nod.

“Sorry, now you have _Asshole_ on your drink.”

“It’s alright, I think that’s what remarkable about you,” Taehyun chuckled, sliding the lemonade over to Yeonjun. “People see what they’re told to see, they never actually bother to _look_ at the _real_ you.”

It made Yeonjun pause from attempting to sip upon the lemonade. His eyes softened as he looked back up to Taehyun, “Then, have you looked at the real me?”

The junior shook his head, smile remained fond. “If I haven’t, I wouldn’t be drinking coffee around the same table with you, would I?”

And Yeonjun glanced around, finally noticing how the coffee house had begun being occupied with more students needing their morning caffeine and though most of them were wearing exhausted faces, they still had the energy to throw curious stares at Yeonjun and Taehyun.

They were undeniably the odd pair.

One was the infamous ‘dangerous’ senior with too many bad reputations.

Another one was the smart, goody two shoes junior.

They weren’t supposed to be.

They shouldn’t be seen having morning coffee together around one same table like now.

Yet they did.

And somehow, it baffled people.

“Thank you,” Yeonjun usually wasn’t one to shy away from those prying eyes, yet today he can’t seem to conjure his mind long enough not to blush, especially in front of Taehyun. “For not trusting whatever you heard about me from others.”

“I’ve seen some values from you,” Taehyun told him truthfully and Yeonjun remembered the story he heard from him back when he accidentally eavesdropped on him at the library. “But somehow I wanna see more, _know_ more about you…”

Taehyun stared straight at him, fearless but soft, and Yeonjun can’t stop his heart from beating so fast.

“…if you’d let me to,” the junior finished with mild uncertainty in his voice and Yeonjun wanted to be brave.

Wanted to let him in.

For once in his life, he wanted to cross that line.

That line which he drew so firmly between himself and the rest of the people around him.

But how?

How could he ever say it out loud?

And what if this would taint _Taehyun’s_ reputation?

“This is really damn sweet,” Yeonjun said instead, after dodging the response to what Taehyun just said by taking his first sip upon the lemonade.

It was just like Taehyun—bright, obvious and everything beautiful. You can tell the drink was sweet just by looking at the colorful liquor. You can see the attractive visual without any filter, and so it was downright mirroring Kang Taehyun.

Something that Yeonjun usually avoided in his life.

Taehyun didn’t coax any response from him, choosing instead to taste his own beverage. He was quick to scrunch up his face and Yeonjun laughed watching him, “And this is really damn bitter.”

It was Yeonjun—all black aesthetic, bitter and undeniably repelling.

He then cleared his throat to keep the conversation going, trying not to think of how painfully different they were. “You haven’t asked me the last question from last night.”

Taehyun gulped another short sip, controlling his face not to twist another time upon the bitterness of the drink and at last swallowing it slowly. He licked his lips once before his eyes fell instead upon the cup in his hands, wrapping both palms around it as if seeking comfort from the warmth of the hot Americano.

“…would you let us get closer so I can know you better?” He voiced out the last question, big eyes slowly peering up at Yeonjun, almost pleading in all seriousness. “I wanna be—wanna be closer than friends.”

Yeonjun locked eyes with him and honestly, who would ever say no to those fucking _eyes_?

Taehyun had been the winner in this, ever since the day Yeonjun saw him in front of the hall during his first day entering this college and even when his mind was adamant in screaming for him to do the right thing, to leave the junior alone, his heart already got the final answer.

Yeonjun took his first step over the line.

“Then let me take you out to second date,” he was saying it out loud before he could even form a proper thought over it. Taehyun slowly curved up a smile, thin but so fucking beautiful and Yeonjun uttered the biggest _fuck it_ over the top of his head. He smiled back just as sweetly, “Off the campus ground, away from all these prying eyes? Just the two of us. How does that sound?”

Taehyun didn’t even take a second to answer, “That sounds _perfect_.”

Yeonjun leaned back in to his chair with a satisfied nod, “ _Perfect_.”

Taehyun chuckled, rising his cup to drink some more only for his eyes to catch the time by his wrist.

“Oh, I got—” He hastily put the cup down, moving instead to collect his stuff back into a bag. “I gotta catch up with my morning class so—”

“I’ll send you there,” Yeonjun stood up as well, readily offering to him.

“No, no, no! It’s fine, I can just walk—”

“It’s alright, I bring along an extra helmet with me today, just in case.” Taehyun fell silent and Yeonjun wasn’t quite sure if he was progressing too fast with this, whatever this was. He quickly added to cover it up, “But that will only happen if you don’t mind riding with me.”

“Well—” Taehyun blinked and stood up with his bag slung over his shoulder. “Let’s go?”

And that was how Yeonjun found himself speeding them over to Faculty of Electrical Engineering, stopping exactly by the front grand staircase of the entrance where students were piling in and out for their classes. Taehyun climbed down and handed back the extra helmet to Yeonjun while his other hand wriggled the empty cup, eyes looking around for any nearest trash bin to throw it away.

“You finished it all already?” Yeonjun nodded his chin down to it.

“Yeah, it’s too bitter, though,” Taehyun shuddered, obviously wasn’t a fan of that drink.

“I think I can help you get rid of that bitterness.”

“How?”

“Have some of this,” Yeonjun offered the junior his half-drunk lemonade and Taehyun raised his brow at him as if Yeonjun was too clueless of what he just said. When he blinked at how Taehyun didn’t move to accept the offer, the junior finally shook his head.

“You’re too dumb for somebody who’s too flirty,” he concluded, stood upon his toes and leaned in just in time to drop a peck by the corner of Yeonjun’s lips.

“Woah, wait,” Yeonjun was shocked, taken aback and attacked. He reversed his face away to carefully look at Taehyun who had his eyes twinkling happily while he smirked at Yeonjun. “Is this…”

He was pretty sure someone around them saw _that_.

And he didn’t want to bring any trouble to Taehyun. He was used to having people’s noses lost deep into his business but Taehyun, he didn’t want any rotten rumors to start stirring around the junior.

“Is this okay, petal?” So he made sure to ask, frowning a bit.

Taehyun’s reply came in a form of carefree snort while he rolled his big, beautiful eyes.

“If it’s not okay, I won’t lean in first, would I?”

Yeonjun didn’t know how, but there was something courageous in his tone, that it made Yeonjun confident enough to smile back and slowly bring his lips forward until he can touch them upon Taehyun’s forehead—carefully, softly, barely touching him.

Taehyun was still so delicate to him and Yeonjun repeated to himself one thousand times, he didn’t want to mess this up.

“You should get to class,” he murmured once he pulled back.

“Promise you’ll text me?” Taehyun peered at him through his long lashes and Yeonjun might as well pledged himself as Kang Taehyun’s from how gone he felt right now.

He won’t chicken out anymore, “Promise.”

Taehyun stepped away with one last bright smile, “Okay, thanks for the drink!”

“You too, petal.”

Yeonjun watched him jogged up the staircase until he disappeared through the entrance, deeper into the building and only then he exhaled out a deep breath, cursing at how his heart never knew how to chill the fuck out.

He was supposed to drive back to his dorm but being too impatient, his whole chest feeling too excited, Yeonjun pulled out his phone instead and started typing in into the search bar.

**Best Dating Places in Seoul**

He needed a concrete plan for this.


End file.
